The Mad Scientist's Experiment
by Luthiena
Summary: A weird Mayuri and Ukitake fic...
1. Children

_A/N:- This story was written entirely because QuinnAstaire loves Mayuri and I love Ukitake. I own nothing...yet..._

**The Mad Scientist's Experiment**

Ukitake Jyuushiro forced himself to keep smiling as he thrust the basket of wrapped candies into Hitsugaya's arms; he could see already the smile on the young captain's face was false and he wished the ground would swallow him whole.

Hitsugaya Toushiro desperately wondered why the older captain continually pushed gifts onto him, he didn't want or need them and it was frankly embarrassing to be treated as a tiny child when he held the same rank and status. But for politeness sake he smiled and accepted the basket with a word of thanks, his eyes as icy as his Zanpaktou.

Kyouraku Shunsui watched the exchange with a heavy heart, only he knew the pain his oldest friend felt every day. He knew the reasons behind the endless gifts of candy and chocolate, if only the young captain hadn't looked so similar to Ukitake this might not have happened. But Shunsui knew just how badly Ukitake's heart ached for a child of his own, how much he knew it could never happen.

Once Ukitake had walked away, smiling cheerfully the entire time, he dropped down beneath a nearby tree and put his head in his hands. He wished constantly that it was different, he would suffer the pain and indignity of his condition a thousand years happily if he could only have had a child, but he couldn't risk passing on the condition.

He had been to Unohana at least a hundred times to see if there weren't any measures that could be taken, any form of defence so he could have a child without fear – but there were none. He knew, had always known, that there was one last person he could ask, but his moral compass simply wouldn't allow him to consider it.

However, after today and the look of weary resignation in Hitsugaya's eyes that sliced through Ukitake like a knife, he couldn't bear the loneliness any longer and damned his morals to hell. Having decided on a course of action he moved swiftly, almost running down the streets of Seretei, only slowing when his breath caught in his chest.

Banging open the door to his destination he discarded formalities and didn't stop until he was stood before his quarry.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri looked up into the flushed face of the white haired captain and, under his mask, he smiled – he knew this day would come….


	2. Decisions

**Chapter Two**

**Decisions**

Kurotsuchi Mayuri forced his hands to remain still, poised over his datapad as though still interested in what research he was currently involved in; the truth was he had been waiting for this day for a very long time. Ever since he had found out about the older man's condition he had been itching to research it himself but no matter how many times he had appealed to Yamamoto the response was always that it was forbidden to perform research on a fellow Shinigami.

But here was the object of his interest almost offering himself up like a sacrificial lamb, not that Mayuri believed in any form of divine intervention or fate – he almost snorted with derision, everything came down to science in the end.

"What is it?" He asked, keeping his voice bored. "I'm a busy man."

Now that he was physically stood there Ukitake almost lost his nerve, he flushed and stammered awkwardly, unsure how to put his problem before a man who most probably would never understand the emotions behind it.

"I – I..er…I.."

"Stop stuttering." Mayuri stated, it was an order with a ring of impatience; unfortunately, Mayuri's imperious tone just served to push Ukitake further into indecision.

_What am I doing? This is wrong.._

For a moment Ukitake seemed about to leave, his face returning to it's usual colour as he made the decision that no matter how badly he ached for a child it was the worst possible thing he could do to come to Mayuri for help. But then he saw Hitsugaya's scowling face once more, the forced smile and dislike burning in his eyes as he stalked away from the older man and his resolve hardened again.

"I want a child." Ukitake heard his voice echo in the room before he even realised he had spoken.

It was at times like this that Mayuri was grateful for the mask that concealed his face and hid his emotions; of all the things he had imagined Ukitake coming here for, namely a cure for his interminable weakness, he had never envisioned a desire for a child.

He immediately re-evaluated his responses, he could see the other captain was still skittish and unsure of himself and, even though the words seemed to curdle on his tongue, Mayuri forced himself to speak them.

"Allow me to help you," Even the offer of help, however insincere, galled Mayuri to make; when all he wanted to do was strap the older man onto a laboratory table and start extracting his organs one at a time.

For a moment Ukitake hesitated, knowing instinctively that he was stood at the centre of a crossroads; then slowly he nodded.


End file.
